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Hundreds More Yemeni Children |
| By
Stephen Lendman |
| Yemen is Obama’s war, planned and orchestrated in Washington, escalated
by Trump, waged by Saudi terror-bombing, aided by more of the same from
US drones, warplanes and ground operations. Conditions are gravely compounded by genocidal land, sea and air blockade, preventing vital humanitarian aid from reaching millions of starving Yemenis, young children harmed most. According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the “inability to deliver humanitarian aid by IRC alone will cost the lives of 500 children to malnutrition (weekly); prevent access to health services for 8,000 people; and prevent access to clean water for 15,000 people” while conflict, cholera, and other diseases ravage the country. Thousands will die from lack of essentials to life, a recent Famine Early Warning Systems alert warned. Naked aggression and genocidal blockade are flagrant international law breaches “violat(ing) the most fundamental safeguards of humanitarian relief to victims of conflict under international humanitarian law,” the IRC stressed, adding: Partial blockade lifting is “arbitrary and discriminatory” because Hodeida and other ports where 80% of commercial goods enter the country remain closed. “(I)mports remain a trickle at best.” Over 20 million Yemenis need essential to life humanitarian aid. Even if blockade is lifted, it’ll take weeks or longer to deliver what’s needed to desperate people. Nearly 10 million Yemenis face starvation. The Security Council should intervene responsibly to stop what’s going on not possible because of US veto power, wanting genocidal aggression and blockade to continue, the human toll of no consequence. “With every passing day, the international community is complicit in” collectively punishing millions of defenseless Yemeni civilians, catastrophic conditions ravaging the country, the IRC explained. Its country director Paolo Cernuschi minced no words, saying “(w)e are far beyond the need to raise an alarm. What is happening now is a complete disgrace. Just two weeks of this blockade had a direct and dire impact in a country already battling the worst cholera outbreak in modern history and on the brink of famine” millions of lives threatened. Already, over three million children and pregnant or lactating women are acutely malnourished, including around half a million children under age-five “suffering from severe acute malnutrition,” the IRC explained. Conditions are worsening daily, compounded by terror-bombing non-military related targets, including residential areas, schools, hospitals and mosques. Raging cholera already affects over 900,000 Yemenis, around 2,600 new cases reported daily. Diphtheria and other diseases are taking an increasing toll. War since March 2015 shows no signs of ending. How many more Yemenis will die before the world community says no more? How much more human suffering is acceptable? During normal times, Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country. Today it’s a biblical level catastrophe, worsening daily as endless conflict rages the highest of high crimes against millions of defenseless Yemenis. VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html |